As I said last week on the Bicycling.com interview and earlier this week on the blog, Independence Pass had a high risk of late afternoon rain storms. What actually transpired was somewhat less sinister but still changed the outcome of the race.
First, the results: From stage #2 and the overall standings.
Now, the weather.
Here’s the radar, clearly showing by 2pm that it was raining on the west side (descent) of the pass:
And I tweeted about the rain, starting at 2:21pm as the log shows below:
Still, the stage winner George Hincapie “…didn’t imagine it would be raining.” Because there are no team radios permitted between the team car and the riders, there was no way to communicate the wet roads to the racers. George is a strong rider, closed the gap, and eventually won the race.
Another big story is Tejay Van Garderen, who “has balls” and took the lead of the overall race with a second place finish today.